NICO DANN, drummer/composer/improviser/educator

Nico Dann has been playing drums and percussion since age 13. Born in 1983 in Amsterdam to Canadian musician parents Steven Dann and Janice Lindskoog, he began playing piano early on before switching to the drums as his main instrument. In 2001 Nico began studying drums with world-renowned teacher Jim Blackley. From 2002 to 2006 Nico lived in Montreal while earning a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance at McGill University. During this time he studied with many excellent musicians including Remi Bolduc, Chris McCann and Michel Lambert. Since 2003, Nico has been playing professionally in and around Toronto and Montreal. Nico is open to all kinds of music and is comfortable playing in any setting. He has studied Classical, Jazz, Rock, Funk, African, Cuban, Brazillian, Balkan, Folk and many other types of music. In the summer of 2006 Nico was a participant in the Banff Summer Program for Jazz and Creative Music. There he studied and played with world class musicians Gerald Cleaver, Gene Lake, Clarence Penn, Marcus Strickland and Dave Douglas.

In recent years, Nico has begun to perform more internationally. Notable engagements with bands ranging from Modern Jazz to Indie-Rock include the Toronto Distillery Jazz Festival, the Boston Pride festival (2004), the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the Jazz Bar in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, NY (all in the summer of 2006).  The Summer of 2007 Nico performed at Montreal’s OFF Jazz festival in June and October of 2007 and 2008 saw Nico co-leading an Indie-Rock band at New York’s CMJ music festival.  In March of 2008 Nico had the opportunity to play with renowned musicians Steven Dann (his father) and Joel Quarrington. This performance of Peter Lieberson's Rumble at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa marked his classical music debut.

Nico currently lives in Brooklyn, NY where he is persuing a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at CUNY, Queens College.